Cookies and iced tea were waiting for Mila Panchenko when she arrived at the refugee shelter. Still, the Ukrainian would rather have thanked her for her room with two beds, TV and small refrigerator in a Russian sanatorium.
“I want to go back to Ukraine so badly.” But Panchenko, 53, had no choice when Chechen soldiers released her from a shelter in Mariupol a month ago. Without food, water or a safe haven, a trip to Russia was the only option, she tells Reuters news agency. She was lucky enough to be able to travel on to Italy thanks to acquaintances.
About 500,000 Ukrainians have ended up in Russia since the start of the war, the warring parties are more or less agreed on that. Russia calls it a humanitarian mission, while Ukraine calls it outright kidnappings. President Zelensky speaks of deportations and a member of parliament called on the Red Cross to track down missing compatriots in Russia.
“It is very difficult to gain insight into what exactly is happening, but the stories do ring alarm bells,” says Russia expert Hubert Smeets. “Ukraine points to the deportations in the Soviet Union and ‘filtration camps’ during the Chechen War and that association is understandable.”
Forced evacuations
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) speaks of consistent reports from various sources of forced evacuations. The organization calls that a war crime if there is no military necessity for it. The Red Cross says it has no first-hand information, but calls the stories “a concern”.
Ukrainian authorities say Russia has once again set up ‘filtration camps’ where civilians are screened. Pantshenko says that her photos were taken and fingerprints were taken. She was also extensively interrogated.
“They asked if we had any ties to the Ukrainian army and if we knew anyone from the Azov battalion,” she sums up. They were also asked how the Russian minority in Ukraine has been treated. Other refugees were asked about troop movements and relatives left behind.
An anonymous refugee told the news site Graty how her phone was taken. “They plugged it into a computer for 20 minutes and I saw them download my contacts.” Other refugees say that individuals with nationalist tattoos, such as the coat of arms of Ukraine, were singled out.
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